Posted on 03/14/2005 12:16:45 PM PST by Dont Mention the War
State or Federal ruling?
I think we can recall Superior Court judges, just like Gray Davis. Let's go to it!
Says who? The illustrious Ninth Circuit?
How?
It's gotta be either a Californistan court or the 9th Circus Court ruling.
9th Circus?
Mar 14, 3:17 PM EST
Judge finds California's marriage law unconstitutional
By LISA LEFF
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A judge ruled Monday that California can no longer justify limiting marriage to a man and a woman, a legal milestone that if upheld on appeal would pave the way for the nation's most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to wed.
In an opinion that had been awaited because of San Francisco's historical role as a gay rights battleground, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer said that withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians is unconstitutional.
"It appears that no rational purpose exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners," Kramer wrote.
The judge wrote that the state's historical definition of marriage, by itself, cannot justify the unconstitutional denial of equal protection for gays and lesbians and their right to marry.
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"The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional," Kramer wrote.
Kramer's decision came in a pair of lawsuits seeking to overturn California's statutory ban on gay marriage. They were brought by the city of San Francisco and a dozen same-sex couples last March, after the California Supreme Court halted the four-week marriage spree Mayor Gavin Newsom had initiated when he directed city officials to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians in defiance of state law.
It could be months or years, however, before the state actually sanctions same-sex marriage, if it sanctions the unions at all. Two legal groups representing religious conservatives joined with California's attorney general in defending the existing laws.
Robert Tyler, an attorney with the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, said the group would appeal Kramer's ruling.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said in the past that he expected the matter eventually would have to be settled by the California Supreme Court.
He apparently based it on the State Constitution's equal protection clause, in an effort to avoid federal review.
Well, I certainly didnt expect Missouri or Georgia to be the first state to say this. LOL
Anything good about this state is being destroyed.
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20050314/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage
If it's an amendment to the state constitution, I'm baffled at how it could (on its merits) be ruled unconstitutional. Either way, it will go to the 9th circus clowns of appeal and hopefully end up at the USSC.
"rational" completely relative to a bleeding heart wussy liberal...
Prolly a rump ranger himself.
This is terrible. But it's not suprising.
The world's just going to get worse and worse. We need to just win as many people to Christ as we can.
No, it will go to the CA Supreme Court, which is surprisingly conservative.
It's no biggy if it's a trial court judge. Patience my friends.
These judges need to get off of their "I'm God and I can do whatever I want" seats. We seriously need to do massive impeachments.
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